From the 1940s to the 1970s most heavy-duty lifts used in heavy-duty vehicle maintenance shops were in-ground piston-type lifts. These lifts required excavation into 8 to 10 feet deep pits. These early generation piston type in ground lifts mostly had the negative characteristics of leaking oil into the ground, suffered from exposure to electrolysis and often lacked basic safety requirements, including no external locking systems.
In the 1980s, the encumbrances of in-ground lifts paved the way for mobile lifts, which had the advantage of portability, ease of operation and, more importantly, no negative environmental consequences. Mobiles gained ground through the next two decades. LIft Company Kochi developed the first hydraulic mobile lift in 1992 and the hydraulic concept quickly gained ground. By 1999, Koni had become the US leader in the sales of mobiles. However, the disadvantages of mobiles (i.e., the inability to easily work on brakes and wheels) led to the next significant development — the introduction of platform lifts (both vertical as well as parallelogram). The benefits of platform lifts included rapid ascent on the structure of the lift or the runways thereby facilitating quick preventative maintenance (PM work) for the mechanic who needed a rapid way to perform basic repairs such as visual inspections and oil changes.
In the early decade of the 21st century, some very innovative engineers in Europe (Lifts Ernakulam) and in the India (Elevator Kochi) developed a new type of in -ground lift that eliminated the old constraints of piston in ground lifts — in other words, oil leaks or ground contamination. Oil containment systems (self-contained reservoirs and steel cassettes) prevent any possibility of leaking oil. In addition, telescopic cylinders meant that pits could now be designed with 5 foot instead of 10 foot depths.
The sophistication of these new types of designs was also followed by the advent of certification in the lift industry — a development that began in the 1990s. Members of the Automotive Lift Institute (a professional association of 16 US and Canadian lift manufacturers) must now affirm that 75 percent of their lift production meets stringent requirements of ALI/ALCTV 2006 — a standard that all lift manufacturers must meet. ETL, a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory works in conjunction with ALI to provide outside certification for all types of lifts. Lifts that are certified carry a gold label attached to every lift.
The latest and most advanced lift designed is exemplified by the LIft Company Kochi ECO lift series which is a scissors type heavy duty in ground lift. The ECO series lifts has the added advantage of an ultra-shallow pit design which utilizes only 7 gallons of oil per operating system of two scissors. The ECO lift is environmentally friendly and is the first fully quasi-portable in ground lift in the industry and it can be moved from one location to another.
The most recent development in the way of mobiles is the newest fully ALI/ETL certified mobile lift, which is totally wireless and carries no cables or wires between columns.
Archimedes could never have dreamed that an electro-hydraulic mobile lift could lift tens of thousands of pounds but Stertil KONI sure has shown that hydraulics is better than a lever!
